The neck tie is the most visible and variable fashion accessory worn by men. "Ties are very related to their times, reflective of trends in society," reports Mark-Evan Blackman, Chairman of the menswear department of New York's Fashion Institute of Technology. Neckties as we now know them are a relatively recent fashion accessory. The primary modern male neckwear can be be traced to the 17th-century cravat, a style developed from Croatian mercenaries honored by Louis XIV. As with so much of male fashion, the style is military in origin. Ties have only been worn by boys, for school and a variety of events and activities that now would call for casual clothes, since the 1900s, although they only became widely accepted in the 1920s. In our more casual modern era, many American boys rarely wear ties and may not, in fact, learn to tie a knot until their teens. Usually British boys learn to handle a tie at an earlier age.

The color conventions for neckwear during the 17th and 18th centuries was usually black for daytime wear and white for formal occasions at night. By the mid-19th century, they had become viewed as traditional and black revolutionary. Latter in the 19th century, black ties became increasingly common. By the end of the century, colored neckwear became increasingly popular. At first colors were limited to pale blues, lavenders, and grays.It was the necktie which finally replaced the cravat. It was replaced during the 19th century by an unlikely combination of Lord Byron, Charles Dickens, English coachmen, and Edward VII. The necktie was tailor-made for the clerical workforce of the new industrial economy of the late 19th century. It was inexpensive, lasted for ever, and was easy and quick to knot. By the 1920s virtually all professional men from bankers to teachers as well as a variety of other men including soldiers, policemen, and the milk delivery man were wearing the necktie.

really, it should be something we all learn. we should all have courses in public speaking, basic mechanics and basic home economics in junior high/highschool. EVERYONE. I would like to be able to change my own tire. But instead, I know how to tie a man's tie. AND a bowtie. truly useless :)

About 10 years ago (before I started dating my husband.) I was at work and my boyfriend Chris came over to pick me up for lunch. He was wearing a suit. The accountant immediately rushed over and offered him a job. Chris, who my husband and I am now good friends with, seems to have the dress for success power. He's a social worker. A while ago he went to a charity meeting for some group that works with kidney dialysis and transplant patients. He walked into the meeting wearing a suit. He was the only one wearing a suit. By the end of the meeting he was offered the position of president of the local chapter. Shortly after he was offered the position for the nation president of the charity. He turned down the national position because he didn't have enough time to devote. It's definitely better to be over dressed then under dressed. Being over dressed gets a lot more positive attention.

I had a coworker once that was just barely meeting all the requirements she had to to keep a job, much less get promoted, and she found out that the president of the company was coming so she wore this suit, and told me it was because she figured that was the best way to get promoted.

History

When I was in History class in High school my history teacher told us he wouldn't wear a tie because he didn’t have syphilis. He said the modern tie evolved from the old frailly collars nobles wore in the Victorian times. The reason that became a fashion trend is the nobles wanted to hide the scars they got from syphilis. Though he said he made an exception once when he was giving a really cool looking bowtie and cumber bun to wear. He said it had pictures of fish jumping across it.

Did you know high heals were originally worn by men. Nobles would wear them because the noble men wanted people to look up at them. It was a sign of station.